Fashion PR
We just had a fashion client cut back on their PR activity, which has left us all really surprised and disappointed in particular seeing as they received terrific coverage around the country and nationally for their brands.
While trying to figure this one out internally we have to put ourselves in the client’s position and ask ourselves the simple question – If it was us would we invest in PR?
We use a simple criteria here – if you have access to strong, high quality current fashion visuals, in particular for a female brand the answer is yes, yes, yes!
I must admit that PR for a male brand is not quite as straight forward – you will get coverage but you need to work a lot harder to achieve the same result. Male fashion is not featured as much by journalists and is just not as sexy!! More imaginative solutions are needed here.
If you are a brand owner or agent make sure that you have a PR resource (internal or external) in place so that the national fashion press and the local press where you have stockists can get their hands on the latest collections (press release & visuals). Make sure the stockists are mentioned in the local releases.
If you are a store owner and you know that the brand/agent are not engaging with a PR resource then take the matter into your own hands get those images from the brand and issue them locally yourself (or your PR person).
The print media absolutely love strong fashion visuals and if you have access to those for your stock then you will in all probability get coverage, which should build the profile of your store and brands with your existing and hopefully new customers.
Budget, budgets ..
I guess it all comes down to money and you need to decide how much can you afford to invest in this area.
If you have the quality material then don’t waste the opportunity for press coverage – if you can’t afford an external resource such as ourselves then try your best to allocate some internal resource to the task.
We do a lot of work in the fashion PR sector and once done properly you will achieve really good results.
Choosing brands for your store or agency?
In choosing what brands to stock in your store or what brands to take on in your agency it is worth considering –
- Will the brands be supported by PR?
- Will the PR extend to the local stockists?
- Failing this will you have access to high quality visuals that you could use for your own PR drive?
This could be the difference between free coverage in the papers for your store/brand and none.
Choosing which product to stock in the store?
A little tip that we give everyone is to make sure when buying that you look for that item or that brand that is very unusual, which will create a talking point. The press love things that are attention grabbing and a little bit different.
So to answer my original question – would I invest in a PR resource ?
Definitely – If I couldn’t afford an external resource with experience in the sector I would make sure someone internally had PR as part of their role. In the fashion industry it is the best value way of Marketing, achieving coverage and interest in your store or brand.
One thing you can be sure is that there are less people investing in PR than before so it is possible to make a bigger splash with less effort.
so .. another thing for you to consider along with all the multiplicity of challenges you have to face every day, as if you didn’t have enough on your plate already!
Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications
Tags: Advertising, Fashion PR, Fuzion, Fuzion Communications, Greg Canty, PR, Public relations, Recession in Ireland
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